


A Soldier’s Love

by Holyfishsticksironman



Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: E. T. A. Hoffman better be proud of me, F/M, Tchaikovsky, Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, alternate universe- the nutcracker, inspired by E. T. A. Hoffman, inspired by The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, more tags as fic progresses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 22:47:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21946711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Holyfishsticksironman/pseuds/Holyfishsticksironman
Summary: Prompt: Christmas film favorites included The Nutcracker.My brain: what if Spideychelle was inserted into the actual story- not just the one we know from the ballet?Presenting: A Soldier’s Love
Relationships: Michelle Jones & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16
Collections: Spideychelle Secret Santa - 2k19





	1. Act 1, Scene 1: The Christmas Party

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Machiavelien](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Machiavelien/gifts).



> My gift for Spideychelle Gift Exchange 2019 for Machiavelien.  
> My first full-blown fic, and I’m endeavoring to finish it by January 6 (the last day of Christmas.)

Christmas Eve, 1892  
Michelle bounced on her toes, staring out the front window, watching the guests that were coming up the lane. 

“Move over, ‘chelle, you’re fogging the glass,” her brother Freddie says, bumping into her shoulder. “I️ want to see too!”

She slides over on the window seat so they both can see comfortably.  
The large front room is filled with garland, holly, and candlelight. Laura’s pomanders hang from the small tree’s branches, along with the paper garland Freddie and Michelle made. Mother and Father always allow the children to decorate the front room’s tree, leaving the larger tree in the great room to decorate Christmas Eve, after the children go to bed. 

“Here he comes!” 

Godfather Stark strides up the path to the front door, flourishing his cape and cane and tipping his hat to the children in the window. His eyes sparkle with merriment, and the two children rush to open the door for him. 

“Godfather Stark! Merry Christmas!”  
“Merry Christmas, my dears!” Mr. Stark hands his hat and cane to the maid waiting at the door, and swirls his satin-lined cape with another flourish. He grasps twelve-year-old Freddie by the shoulders.   
“Fred, my lad, you’ve grown two inches since I️ saw you last. And Michelle, how did you enjoy the books I️ sent you?”  
Laura, the eldest at seventeen, comes in, and runs over to the gentleman to hug him, along with her siblings. “Godfather Stark! How good to see you!”

After dinner, Godfather Stark presents his gifts to the children- a beautiful clockwork palace, with tiny dancing courtiers inside. 

“That’s not all,” he says mischievously, and presents Laura with a beautifully wrapped box, tied with a red satin ribbon. 

She unties the ribbon, and carefully lifts the lid of the box. Inside, laying on green velvet, is a handsome nutcracker soldier. His brown eyes shine in the candlelight; they match the small curls that peek out from underneath his helmet. A small saber is pinned to his side, it’s hilt glinting gold. 

“He’s wonderful, thank you,” Michelle says, captivated by the look in the nutcracker’s eyes. She carefully lifts him out of the box, brushing his lapels back into place.

“How does he work,” asked Freddie, reaching to touch the saber. 

Godfather demonstrates how to lift the lever on the nutcracker's back, placing an appropriately-sized pecan in the open mouth. He has Freddie lower the lever, cracking the nut open. The three children sit for a long time, passing the nutcracker and the bowl of nuts around. 

Freddie spies a particularly large walnut deep in the bowl, and on his next turn, he seizes the prize nut, forces it into the nutcracker’s mouth, and jams down the lever. 

With a sickening crunch, the nut cracks, along with the jaw of the nutcracker. Freddie stands shocked. 

“I️… I️ didn’t mean to, Godfather! Honest!”

Laura sweeps the nutshells off into her hand, then dumps them into the waste bowl nearby. She puts her arm around her youngest sibling. 

“We know you didn’t mean to break him, Fred. Let’s see if Godfather can fix him.”

Michelle carefully picks up the nutcracker, cradling him in her arms.   
It’s only a toy nutcracker, she thinks, tears welling in her eyes that she refuses to let fall. Goodness, Michelle, you’re fifteen. Don’t cry over a toy that can be mended. But try as she might, a lone tear slips down her cheek, and lands on the nutcracker’s. 

Godfather spends nearly twenty minutes mending the nutcracker, while Michelle hovers, waiting.   
That’s odd, Michelle thinks. His eyes look sad. 

At last, Godfather ties his silk handkerchief around the nutcracker’s jaw, and hands him to Michelle. 

“He should be just fine now, Michelle.”  
Michelle sighs, and hugs the nutcracker to herself carefully. 

“You’ve becomes attached to him,” Stark muses, a glint in his eyes. “Why don’t you take care of him for your brother & sister?”

She sets the nutcracker soldier carefully on the table, then stands to hug Godfather. His eyes glint with magic as she presses her cheek against his. “I’ll take care of him always.”

After everyone says goodnight, and the children are put to bed, Michelle slips out of bed, careful not to disturb Laura. 

This is silly, she thinks, checking on a toy. But I can’t help it- I️ thought I saw him come to life after Godfather mended him.


	2. Act 1, Scene 2: The Battle

Christmas Eve, 1892

Michelle strikes a match, and holds it to the candle stub, waiting for the wick to catch. When it does, she shakes the match out, and carries the candle downstairs, tiptoeing as quietly as she can, shoving the box of matches into the pocket of her dressing gown. The grandfather clock in the grand room chimes eleven, the gears whirring as the clock settles. 

The nutcracker stands surrounded by a fleet of Freddie’s toy soldiers, their metal jackets shimmering in the firelight. 

Michelle kneels by the nutcracker, carefully inspecting his face. His eyes don’t have the same look in them as before, and she finds herself slightly disappointed. 

“It was silly, coming down here for a toy. Even if he’s handsome,” Michelle muses, and settles on the couch to watch the fire for a few minutes. 

Michelle starts awake, stretches, and looks around, wondering what woke her.  
She can’t see anything out of the ordinary, and pulls the coverlet off of the back of the couch to cover up with, seeing as the fire has died down to almost embers. 

The clock strikes twelve, and a large mouse sneaks out of his hiding place under the chair across from the couch, headed towards the popcorn strands hanging in the Christmas tree. He nibbles through piece after piece of popcorn, stuffing his cheek pouches full to bursting. He scurries away, and returns with several more mice. They dismantle the bottom layer of the garland, and when the string snaps, it catches on a large glass ornament that shatters when it lands on the wood floor. 

Michelle sits up, woken by the noise.  
She lights the candle again, along with the oil lamp on the side table.  
When she sees the mice, she takes up the coal shovel and tries to shoo them away. But the mice are quick, and waves of mice stream from the floorboards, driving Michelle to stand on the couch. 

“I️ must be dreaming,” she thinks. “There’s no possible way for there to be so many mice in the house. What do I️ do?”

The mice go up to the nutcracker soldier, and begin to nibble at his feet and hands. 

“I️ can’t let them chew on him!”

Michelle leaps from the couch, grabs the nutcracker, swatting the mice away left and right. Her eyes must be playing tricks on her, because she could have sworn that the nutcracker’s mouth moved. And then she heard a small voice say,

“Put me down, my lady. I’ll fend them off.”

Michelle’s mouth gaped open. It simply couldn’t be. The nutcracker soldier was speaking to her. Again, he begged her to put him down, and when she did, he sprang to attention. Calling the tin soldiers to his side, they attacked the mice with fervor. 

Wheeling in the toy cannon, the tin solders lit the fuse, and blasted cannonball after cannonball at the mice, spewing smoke all over the great room floor. The waves of mice ceased for a few moments, and Michelle sighed in relief. The nutcracker turned to her, and said,

“Michelle, I️ honor you. We have fought bravely, but I️ fear the battle may not be over.”

Michelle set her teeth, and pulled her dark, curly hair into a ponytail, wrapping it around itself and tucking in the ends.  
“Then I️ will stay by your side to the end.”

He smiled, his white teeth shining, his eyes bright. “Will you give me a token, Michelle?” 

Michelle searches the pocket of her dressing gown, and pulls out a crimson hair ribbon. She carefully ties it around the nutcracker’s arm, and kisses the nutcracker’s cheek in a moment of urgency. She notices a pink blush spread across the nutcracker’s face as he sets his teeth, and calls the tin soldiers to arms. 

Not a moment later, Michelle saw the biggest mouse she’s ever seen crawl out of the shadows. A tiny gilded crown sits on top of his dark matted fur. His large front teeth are yellowed, and his bloodshot eyes lock onto the nutcracker soldier. With an almighty squeal, the mouse king leaps at the soldiers, biting and clawing. 

The tin solders surge forward at the mice, but are held at bay while the mouse king and the nutcracker soldier face each other. The saber strikes against the mouse’s teeth, and blood drops land on the soldier’s dark blue jacket. The next time they come together, the mouse’s teeth sink deep into the nutcracker’s shoulder, and he cries out in anger and surprise. 

Michelle, acting quickly, takes off her slipper, and aims at the mouse king, shrieking, 

“Leave him alone!” 

The slipper sails through the air, and hits the mouse king squarely in the face. He stumbles back, and the nutcracker rams his saber through the mouse king’s chest. 

With a shrill squeak, the mouse king falls forward, knocking the nutcracker forward, and both are silent and still. 

In a blur, the tin soldiers shove the mouse king off of the nutcracker, and the mice pick up their dead king, and scurry back into the shadows. 

Fighting back tears, Michelle rushes to the side of the nutcracker. Just like before, her tears drop into the nutcracker’s cheeks, and he reaches up with a ragged breath. 

“You mourn for a nutcracker soldier?” His voice is filled with wonder. 

“You’re my friend,” she whispers. “You can’t die,” she chokes out. 

He touches her cheek with his small, wooden hand, and his bright eyes glaze over, and his jaw slackens. 

The tin solders remove their helmets and hang their heads in respect for their fallen leader.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sorry to leave you on a cliff hanger, especially on Christmas! But I️ wanted to get the next chapter out ASAP. 
> 
> Merry Christmas, everyone!  
> I️ hope you have a blessed day!  
> ❤️ Fishsticks


	3. Act 1, Scene 3: Christmas Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> See? Everything will turn out all right in the end.   
> ❤️ Fishsticks

Christmas Morning, 1892 

Michelle feels a hand on her shoulder, and she turns to see Godfather Stark kneeling behind her. 

“He fought bravely,” he says, his voice cracking with sadness. “And you defeated the mouse king.”

Michelle pulls her handkerchief out of her dressing gown pocket, and wipes first the nutcracker’s cheeks, then her own. 

“I️ threw my shoe at the beast, the nutcracker was the one who slayed him,” she sniffles. 

Godfather gently picks up the fallen solder, and stands carefully, murmuring over the nutcracker soldier. To Michelle’s amazement, the nutcracker’s pale face flushes, and his eyes close as if in sleep. 

“Wait! Where are you going with him?”

“You will have to wait and see,” Godfather says mysteriously. 

•  
•  
•

Michelle wakes in her own bed, not knowing where she is. Suddenly, she remembers the battle, and throws the bedclothes to the floor. Running down the stairs, she slips on the rug, and slides into the great room. 

“Merry Christmas, my love,” her mother says, eyes bright. Michelle stops suddenly. The nutcracker soldier is standing exactly as he was last night when she came down. The garland is mended, and there’s no trace of the awful battle that happened the night before. 

“Michelle? Are you alright?” Father asks, putting his hand on her forehead, checking her temperature. She looks up at her father, bewildered. He leads her to the couch, and sits with her while she tells him all that happened the night before. 

“I️ think you’ve had a bad dream. Maybe too much excitement and sweets?” Father suggests calmly. 

“But I️ saw it happen,” Michelle insists, refusing to believe that it was a dream. 

Mother and Father smile at her, and move toward the dining room for breakfast. 

Later that morning, Michelle sits beside the tree, staring at the nutcracker. 

“I️ know you’re real,” Michelle whispers. “And I️ think Godfather knows more than he says he does.”   
She leans down, closer to the nutcrackers ear. “Thank you for defending me,” and she thinks perhaps that the nutcracker winks. 

•  
•  
•

That afternoon, after the family opens gifts, Laura, Freddie, and Michelle are sitting in the great room, Fred playing with his soldiers and his new toy saber, galloping to and fro. 

“‘Chelle! Come play with me,” he begs. 

“Maybe later,” she replies, lost in thought. 

“Are you okay? You seem upset. Didn’t you get what you wanted,” asks Laura, closing the charming novel she’d found tucked in the boughs of the tree that morning. 

“I’m pleased with my gifts, Laura. The books are wonderful, and my new dress is beautiful…” she trails off, gazing out the window. 

“I️ sense a ‘but’ there. Would you like to tell me?” Laura presses gently, settling into the loveseat with her sister with her embroidery. 

•  
•  
•

“I️ told Mother and Father; they said it had to have been a dream,” Michelle finishes, looking first at her sister, then her brother, who’s leaning on her knees, enraptured by her story. 

“Well,” Laura begins, not wanting Michelle to know that she doesn’t know what to say. It’s not the first time Michelle has had fantastical dreams. “If you’re certain it wasn’t a dream, you should talk to Godfather when he comes for Christmas dinner tonight.”

Michelle’s face brightens, and she hugs her sister tightly. “That’s a perfect idea, Laura, thank you.”

That evening, when dinner was finished and the family was gathered around the fire, Michelle sat on her hassock, leaning on Godfather Stark’s knee, listening to Father read the Christmas story aloud.   
When he finishes, Michelle turns to Godfather. 

“Tell me about the nutcracker soldier.”

Godfather Stark’s eyes dance with an expression that Michelle cannot read. 

“Now that’s a story.”


	4. Act 1, Scene 4: A Hard Nut to Crack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hooray! a new chapter is up!
> 
> This is actually one of my favorite parts of "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King," and I tell a condensed version of this chapter to my students before they see the ballet. 
> 
> <3 fishsticks

Christmas Evening, 1892

“Tell me about the Nutcracker Soldier,” Michelle asks, leaning on Godfather Stark’s knee. 

“That’s quite a tale,” Godfather replies, but the children look at him so earnestly, he relents. “It’s a long story, so make sure you’ve got plenty of treats.”

Freddie moves the bowl of popcorn closer to Laura, and dashes into the kitchen for the pitcher of apple cider. He very carefully sets it down on the table, making sure not to spill a drop. 

“Are you ready now, children? Then let us begin…”

_Long ago, in a far away kingdom, there was a King and his Queen. They ruled happily over their people, and were very much loved. When the Queen discovered that she was going to have a baby, the King rejoiced, and proclaimed that a great banquet would be held, and there would be music and dancing for all of the people within the castle walls._

_The morning of the banquet, the Queen was surveying the cooks in the kitchen, when she heard a tiny voice around her feet. Lifting her skirts, she saw Dame Mouserink, Queen of the mice, asking her for some of the bacon from the bowl on the table.  
“I am a queen too,” squeaked the tiny mouse lady, bowing to the Queen. “And have a family of my own to feed.”_

_It wouldn’t hurt to give her a little, the Queen thought, and handed a small piece down to the mouse.  
“Oh, thank you,” said Dame Mouserink, and hurried off with the prize. _

_The Queen thought nothing more of the mouse, until later that morning, when another mouse approached her, and demanded more bacon. Again, the Queen gave the mouse a piece, and another, until there were only a few crumbs left in the bowl. The Queen was alarmed, and asked to speak to Dame Mouserink, hoping to rectify the issue, but the mouse would not come out._

_Disappointed, the Queen asked the head cook if there wasn’t any more bacon, and she said,  
“There isn’t any more, your highness. I’m sorry.” So the Queen instructed to put the remaining bits of bacon on the King’s plate, so that he wouldn’t notice. _

_But the King did notice, and asked the head cook,  
“Why do I have bacon on my plate, but no one else does? Should my people go without while I indulge?”  
“No, your highness,” replied the cook, glancing at the Queen. The Queen leaned over and spoke softly to her husband,  
“My dear, the Mouserink family took advantage of my hospitality, and stole your bacon. I tried to ask her to come and speak to me, so we could find a solution, but she refused.”_

_Outraged, the King commanded that the court inventor, Mr. Stark, should create traps to ensnare the Mouserink family, and banished them from the kingdom._

“Is he related to you, Godfather?” Freddie asks, and Michelle stuffs a handful of popcorn kernels into his mouth before he can ask another question. Godfather chuckes at the two, and continues. 

_The traps were made, and the seven sons of Dame Mouserink were caught, never to be seen again._

_When the time came for the baby to be born, the King and Queen welcomed a beautiful daughter, who they named Felicia. She was the most beautiful in all of the kingdom. On the day they presented her to the kingdom, Dame Mouserink made an appearance.  
Angered at the disappearance of her sons, she placed a curse on the princess._

_“Beautiful and fair, your daughter is now, but beware, dear Queen. I will have my revenge- you stole my sons away from me. I will come for her in the night- it’s not a question of if, but when.”  
And with that, Dame Mouserink scurried under the floorboards, quick as lightning, and disappeared. _

_Alarmed, the King and Queen placed seven nurses, seven maids, and seven soldiers around Princess Felicia’s room, along with the services of seven large cats, which the maids were to pet all night, so they would purr and keep Dame Mouserink and her family away._

_One night, long after Dame Mouserink made her threat, all of the guards in Princess Felicia’s room fell asleep- the guards, nurses, maids, and the cats. Slowly, Dame Mouserink climbed up into the cradle, and whispered a magic spell over the sleeping child. At the last word, one of the nurses stirred, and stood quickly to check on the princess. Dame Mouserink slid back into the shadows as the nurses’ screams woke all of the others._

_Princess Felicia’s eyes had turned into large, peering orbs, her mouth into a gaping maw, and her head had expanded twofold. She was no longer beautiful, but instead, had turned into…_

“A Nutcracker!” interrupted Freddie, causing Laura and Michelle to jump.   
“Hush, now, Fred,” chastised his eldest sister. “Go on, Godfather. What happened to the princess?”

_The King and the Queen summoned Mr. Stark again, to see what could be done for their daughter. He searched for years and years, but nothing could be found, until he discovered that on an island, far from the kingdom, there could be a cure._

_Mr. Stark asked the King and Queen to embark on the voyage, and he soon set out, with his young nephew alongside him._

_In the heart of the island, they found the tree called Krakatook, which bore one single nut every hundred years. This nut was nearly impossible to crack, but Mr. Stark had read that if a young man who had never been married cracked the nut with his teeth, and the nutmeat given to the afflicted, the curse would break, but it would not stay broken unless the man took seven steps backwards, without tripping._

_Mr. Stark’s nephew had fallen in love with the princess, and volunteered his services to the King and Queen.  
“Sir, you may have her hand in marriage if you so desire, in return for breaking the curse,” the King replied. _

_On Princess Felicia’s sixteenth birthday, the young nephew expertly cracked the nut between his teeth, delicately presented the nutmeat to the princess, and began taking the seven steps backwards._

_Princess Felicia’s face began to change, and all eyes were locked on her; no one noticed Dame Mouserink peer up from the floorboards, just as the young nephew was taking his seventh step._

_The young man tripped on Dame Mouserink, and as she lay dying, she watched as the young man began transforming into the same sort of nutcracker Princess Felicia had been._

_Thankfully, Princess Felicia had been cured, and after she embraced her parents, asked to see the young man who had saved her. She had become enamored with the handsome young man._

_She turns, and is horrified at the sight of the once handsome young man. His body had shrunk, and his head enlarged. His brown eyes bulge, his curls now solid and wooden-looking, and his mouth, a gaping maw._

_“Here is the man who saved you, my love,” the Queen says, motioning to the young man.  
“Get him out of my sight! I will never marry him!” the Princess shrieks, refusing to look at him again. _

_Saddened, the King had the young man banished from the kingdom, and Mr. Stark stepped down from his post as court inventor; for he had seen how poorly the King and his family had treated his nephew._

_They searched far and wide for another cure, but alas, none could be found._

_Until…_

_One late night, several months later, a doctor of magic revealed to them that the young man could be saved, if only when the Mouse King had been killed, and a young lady loved the nutcracker, despite his outward appearance._

**Author's Note:**

> I’m writing/editing on my mobile, and will go back & tidy up when I️ get back to my laptop. Please excuse any errors!


End file.
